About the Company

Trine Energy (“Trine”) is a UK based early stage startup developing products for transmission of electrical power (1MW+) using power of fiber (PoF) as the core technology. PoF is already in use in many industries. However the power used in those applications are in milliwatts. Trine’s power transmission target is orders of magnitude higher. It is a challenging yet exciting problem to solve.

Trine is working on the hypothesis that the production of power is a solved problem. Solar and wind based energy production has been rapidly scaling since the start of the century. In fact there is too much generation of solar and wind power in many European countries leading to curtailment and negative spot price of electricity. Renaissance of fission nuclear reactors and the advancements in fusion means there will be no shortage of electrical power. The challenge will be to distribute that power at a national and global scale. Today, the only option of distributing electrical power over distance is the power grid. It works, but just. It is a super old technology. It takes immense effort to build or expand, and is costly to maintain. According to various studies, ~$1 Trillion of annual investment is needed globally to upgrade and expand the grid networks to reach net zero target by 2050. Governments don’t have fiscal capacity to make such investments. It has not seen any real innovation for a very long time and there is none on the horizon to significantly reduce the cost. It gets unstable when there is too much intermittent power in the mix, which goes against the global drive for energy transition. It is fragmented, and has no global scale. 

Laser and fiber optic, in comparison, are modern technologies, enjoying rapid innovation. Both are highly flexible products. They have many interesting properties that electricity and power cables don’t have. They can be produced in significantly higher volumes and are easy to deploy. Their cost and performance are improving at Moore’s law scale. This opens the opportunity for Trine to build products and become an alternative to specific use cases that are easier to develop and implement in the near term, such as providing power redundancy using short distance transmission (<5km) to critical infrastructure such as defense systems and data centers. It is also possible to deliver electrical power as thermal energy for commercial and industrial heating. The long term goal is to create a global network of power, much like the internet, where producers and end users can connect instantly and seamlessly using Trine’s technology. The products that solve the energy distribution problem at a global scale have the potential to define a new industry.

Trine’s plan is to combine technologies from different fields of science and engineering such as high power diode and fiber lasers, specialised fiber optic, power over fiber, and thermal photovoltaic cells to achieve the goal. By using technologies that are already invented and commercialised, and pushing the boundaries of engineering and finance to create a product that solves one of the biggest energy transition bottlenecks, is a mission worth pursuing.

About the Role

This is a unique multi-disciplinary role. It requires the product manager to be a first principle thinker and problem solver, bringing together knowledge from different fields to develop a product that has no precedence. There are some known challenges that have to be overcome in the product- high loss rates and management of heat generated in the process. The end to end efficiency of the product can be as low as 20%. But that is a respectable target in the near term. Many energy systems globally operate in similar efficiency levels e.g. photovoltaic cells, coal fired plants etc. It is reasonable to assume that: one, marginal cost of electricity from solar and wind will continue to fall rapidly and will tend to zero; two, the laser and fiber optic products will improve at an exponential scale in terms of loss rates, power levels and cost per watt. With these assumptions, the product manager needs to find a path of success by collaborating with established OEMs and taking minimum possible technology and innovation risk. The company is already in discussions with global players in laser and fiber optics. The company also has onboarded experts in laser, optics and mathematical modeling/simulation. The company will add talent as required for the product development.

Responsibilities

Trine product currently is at TRL 2 level. There is a high level product definition and design of an end to end system consisting of several components. The high level design has been discussed with academic advisors and the OEMs who have provided useful vetting and guidance for improvement. The product manager will be responsible for spearheading the product development from the current stage and reach TRL level 3 or 4 within three months of joining. The company had positive discussions with renowned laser and optics labs in the UK who have expressed interest to collaborate once the product reaches TRL 3. The company aims to achieve TRL 6 by Q3 2026 and TRL 10 by Q3 2027.

The product manager will work closely with the company founders, who are hands-on and have strong commercial and product development background. The product manager is expected to bring deep technical insight and engineering acumen to make better product decisions and solve the technical challenges. The product manager will be required to work closely with all external stakeholders and manage the day to day interactions and relationships. The stakeholders include OEMs, labs, academic partners and technical consultants, potential customers and government agencies.

Skills and Experience

Given the nature of the product and ambitions, the product manager must be strong in physics and mathematics. A deep understanding of laser physics and optics is essential, hence a masters or PhD in these subjects is necessary. While prior industry experience in these fields is not a requirement, it will be an advantage. Any of the following experience of skill would be a nice to have:

• Design and integration of optical subsystems for high-power laser transmission through conventional optical fiber.
• Model, build, and test coupling optics (lenses, mirrors, beam shapers, isolators) for efficient injection into and extraction from fiber.
• Develop strategies to manage nonlinear effects (SRS, SBS) using proven approaches (beam splitting, pulsing, spectral filtering).
• Collaborate with laser physicists, power electronics engineers, and simulation experts to ensure end-to-end energy efficiency.
• Create optical alignment and stability protocols for laboratory and pilot setups.
• Work with the systems integration team to define scalable architectures for larger deployments.
• Hands-on experience with solid-core fiber systems (preferably high-power delivery).
• Familiarity with optical simulation tools (e.g.Zemax, FRED, TracePro, COMSOL, Lumerical)
• Experience designing optical test setups and experiments in lab environments.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, capable of pragmatic engineering trade-offs (using existing tech creatively, not reinventing fundamentals)
• Experience in optical amplifiers, beam combiners, or pulsed laser systems.
• Background in power/energy applications (not just telecom or data).
• Familiarity with control systems integration for optics.

What We Offer

This is a UK based role, preferably in London. While UK based candidates are preferred, overseas candidates are welcome to apply. This is a full-time role but part-time or consulting/time-based engagements are also feasible for a certain period of time if circumstances require.

This is an opportunity to work on a game-changing energy distribution system with massive global impact. The role will have high visibility, travel, participation in industry events, and an opportunity to work with top OEMs, academia, labs and customers. You will have freedom to operate, collaborate and push boundaries. Besides competitive compensation, the company will provide a private healthcare plan for self and family, opportunity to participate in employee stock plan and long-term growth.